These reflections are a result of more than 40 years of ministry as a Roman Catholic priest. Most of these years I spent in the Diocese of Charlotte which covers Western North Carolina. Now I am retired, and live in Medellín, Colombia where I continue to serve as a priest in the Archdiocese of Medellín.
For just as through the disobedience of the one man the many were made sinners, so, through the obedience of the one, the many will be made righteous. (Rom 5:12-19)
https://bible.usccb.org/bible/readings/022623.cfm
Sometimes we forget the Good News of Lent—there is salvation. As the Easter Exultet joyfully proclaims: “O happy fault, O necessary sin of Adam, that won for us so great a redeemer!” This First Sunday used to be the beginning of Lent. So if you missed Ash Wednesday, don’t worry, you can begin today!
Levi gave a great banquet for him in his house, and a large crowd of tax collectors and others were at table with them. The Pharisees and their scribes complained to his disciples, saying, "Why do you eat and drink with tax collectors and sinners?" Jesus said to them in reply, "Those who are healthy do not need a physician, but the sick do. I have not come to call the righteous to repentance but sinners." (Lk 5:27-32)
https://bible.usccb.org/bible/readings/022523.cfm
Eating and drinking with sinners was one of the first charges against Jesus. Whenever the church tries to play purity games with the Eucharist, it runs up against the prayer that the liturgy itself places on our lips before communion: “Lord, I am not worthy that you should enter under my roof, but only say the word and my soul shall be healed.”
This, rather, is the fasting that I wish: releasing those bound unjustly, untying the thongs of the yoke; Setting free the oppressed, breaking every yoke; Sharing your bread with the hungry, sheltering the oppressed and the homeless; Clothing the naked when you see them, and not turning your back on your own. (Is 58:1-9a)
https://bible.usccb.org/bible/readings/022423.cfm
If our Lenten practices of fasting and abstinence don’t lead us to works of justice and mercy, then we’re doing it wrong. God is not fooled by our pretense and religious buffoonery.
Then Jesus said to all, "If anyone wishes to come after me, he must deny himself and take up his cross daily and follow me.” (Lk 9:22-25)
https://bible.usccb.org/bible/readings/022323.cfm
The real test of Lent is the daily following of the Lord as Saint Richard of Chichester (1197-1253) said long ago: To see thee more clearly, to love thee more dearly, to follow thee more nearly, day by day.
Even now, says the LORD, return to me with your whole heart. (Joel 2:12-18)
https://bible.usccb.org/bible/readings/022223.cfm
Whatever we might think that Lent is about, God is interested in just one thing, our hearts. The great preparation for the celebration of the Paschal Triduum begins today. It is not a self-centered question of human will power (as in what will I give up for Lent?), but rather what will bring me closer to love of neighbor. My mom, Norma Torp Boyd, (1927-1996), was born on this day—she would have been 96. Being a nurse, she taught me to care for others “with my whole heart.”
